Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Media Attacks on Sarah Palin Work

A new CNNpoll indicates more Americans have an unfavorable view of Sarah Palin than ever before.

This poll comes on the heels of attacks against her in the liberal mainstream media that reached unprecedented heights after the Tucson shootings. Some on the right dispute this survey, but I suspect it isn’t far from the truth.

Concerted, deliberate propaganda attacks by the mainstream media against Sarah Palin work, and this poll adds to the evidence.

This is the traditional, boiler-plate strategy of liberals against any political figure considered a danger to them. We’ve all seen it before when the media targeted Newt Gingrich, Dan Quayle, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and many others. All too often, the media can cry “Mission accomplished!”

Far too many Americans are vulnerable to mass media propaganda. Their opinions on Palin are a direct reflection of what they see and hear in the media. Most would not know hardly anything about her otherwise. That explains Palin’s high negative numbers. Even prominent figures on the right are influenced, and talk about Palin’s “radioactivity,” which only results from media attacks without any corresponding counterattack.

Conservatives still lack a strategy for countering mainstream media hit jobs on their leaders. The result is a growing list of damaged figures that otherwise deserve a far better fate than being dismissed by their own party with the standard wisdom that anyone with high negatives is unelectable.

Liberal media outlets, as well as celebrities and others sympathetic to their cause, turn promising and “dangerous” conservatives into “radioactive” personalities with high negatives. All liberal media join the party.

It’s not about truth; it’s about creating an alternate reality designed to damage their political prospects. The truth is not considered a desirable goal; advocating the liberal party line has achieved primacy. A fantasy assessment of the conservative’s qualities has been substituted for the reality—the ultimate goal of the attack. The disparity can be seen when Democratic politicians such as Joe Biden and Barack Obama constantly utter gaffes, yet the media is largely silent.

Lessons can be learned from Ronald Reagan. The media hated him, called him a fool, and tried every stunt in the book to discredit him and his policies in the eyes of the public, yet he still overcame all that.

Palin and others on the right have their advocates, such as Rush Limbaugh and others, but sometimes it isn’t enough, and something else needs to be brought into play to effectively counter the propaganda directed at the American public. A counterstrategy is needed to protect outstanding political figures on the right against the mainstream media’s attacks.

This latest poll indicating Palin’s high negatives highlights the problem.